What would you do if you were working in the front office of an elementary school and a guy came in with three bags of guns and ammo? This is a story about a bookkeeper with a super power, and a lesson on the wisdom of relating to (instead of condemning) an agitated man--with or without a loaded gun.
Yesterday as I was returning to work from lunch, an unmarked GBI truck passed with its blue lights on, on its way, apparently to the elementary school down the street. Next I heard there was a shooter, then I heard everything was fine and no one was hurt. This morning I found this extraordinary video of an exclusive interview with Antoinette Tuff, the bookkeeper for the school who talked the would-be gunman out of going on a killing spree. Her calm is clear, and her story is amazing: the guy came to the school with backpacks full of guns and ammunition, loaded the clips in front of this clerk, who just happened to be working up front that day, who preceded to talk calmly to the man and ultimately persuaded him to put down the guns and to give himself up. What I find so powerful about the video of her telling the story is how she connected to the man. He told her it was over for him, and she related to him, told him her own story, that sometimes she feels like giving up, told him things would be OK. She kept him in the room, she soothed him, she asked him his name and when she found out he had the same name as her mother’s maiden name, she said “we could be family”. He is white, she is black. It’s an extraordinary story of humanity. Antoinette Tuff is the kind of person I want to be, and what we need more of on our police forces, in our schools, in our senate and congress! The interview is worth watching!
">Interview with Antoinette Neff